Magnetic compression and anastomosis is a strategy by which first and second magnets are located in respective volumes within a patient. The two magnets are magnetically linked to compress the walls defining the respective volumes together. For instance, co-owned U.S. Pat. No. 8,556,919 teaches a delivery system for magnet anastomosis in which the tissue compressed between a pair of implanted magnets causes a necrosis of the walls of the stomach and jejunum until an anastomosis is formed. This reference suggests that, after the anastomosis is formed, the implanted magnets can pass through the body naturally or can be removed by strategies such as laparotic removal, or possibly an endoscopic removal. While these strategies for removal of implanted magnets may be attractive and feasible for creating an anastomosis in the digestive system, these suggested retrieval strategies may not be realistically feasible in other body volumes, such as creating an anastomosis between two cardiovascular passageways in a patient.
The present disclosure is directed toward one or more of the problems set forth above.